The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1887-10-01
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND.
The Captured Flags and Soldiers
Pensions.
General George w. Morgan at Camden,
Ohio.

The following is the concluding portion OF
General Morgan's speech at Cameron, Monroe
County. September n:
How clean, broad and patriotic the admins
tration OF President Cleveland has been, when
his order for tho return OF the captured flags
deposited In the War oflce. Is made the chief
subject OF complaint against It.
The order was given. rcconsidered and coun-
termundcd, and that is the beginning and the
ending OF the whole AFFAIR. Not one captured
flag has been or will be removed from the Ma
tional Capital, and all this smoke on the subject
amounts to nothing.
nation is q great family, In which union and
good will are vital clcmcnts as envy and dis
cord nrc sources OF weakness and failure. We
OF the north can AFFORD to be just and generous,
for otter four years Of heroic battle, on either
side, the victory was ours.
During the war there was nn malice between
the soldiers Of the opposing armies. The war
over, certain northern md certain southern
troops Of their own motion returned captured
flags which had been galantly won, and rs gal
lantly defended on well-contested fields; and
those acts OF generous chivalry were hailed
with loud acclaim from ocean to ocean, and
from Canada to Mexico; aud the world believed
that we were again united people, bound to-
gether by the ennobling sentiment Of patriot
ism.
Inspired by such feeling, o brave and meri.
torious soldier Of two wars, who, when but u
boy, enlisted in the first regiment Of Pennsyl-
vanin volunteers In our war with Mexico, and
who for gallantry was promoted from the ranks
to u lieutenancy in regular regiment, aud who
is now Adjutant General OF the Army Of the
United States, suggested to the Secretary Of
War, and he to the Chief Magistrate OF the Re-
public, that the captured flags deposited in tho
War ofice should be restored to those from
whom they had been gloriously won, and by
whom they had been gallant]y defended The
President did order those flags to be returned !;
but, on further consideration, countermanded
the order. The order was generous and pa
triotic mistake; mistake prompted by
desire 10 prove to the people OF
the South that we are all countrymen
again; that we have but one fag-the star
spangled banner Of the Union But for oil that,
the order was calculated to, and did wound the
susceptibilities of many Union soldiers, and
this constituted the mistake. OF all men. soldiers
are the most impulsive, but as rule they are
the most generous Of men; and brave and gen.
erous men should not allow party motives to
smother the grand nnd noble impulses OF gcner-
osity Let the man who never committed q
mistake step to the front! For he is the only
man who has right to cast o stone Mt Grover
Cleveland. The man does not live who never
committed mistake And II tho order was q
mistake SO have been the assaults made
against the President.
In one Of the many histories of the battle Of
Waterloo. o legend is told OF two aides de camp,
the one OF Napoleon, the other Of Wellington,
who crossed each others path, each bearing an
order trOm his chief, on the execution OF which
tho fate Of the battle might depend. The
Frenchman bore down upon the Englishman,
who rode steadily on his course; but as they
neared each other the Engishmnn raised the
stump OF his sword arm which had been
shot away in o former battle, and instead Of
striking his disabled foe, thcFrcnchman brought
his sword to salute and gallopcd on.
His doing SO was q mistake OF generosity.
The Englshman should have been made pris-
oner, and tho failure to do so might have lost
the battle; but the nobility Of the mistake has
always received more praise than censure.
The great Napoleon is credited with saying.
HE is the best general who makes the fewest
Mistakes" and despite oil the grandeur Of his
character, he was not an exception to his own
general rule.
But lot us look at home; and 1t is unnecessary
to go farther back than the great civil war; the
grandest trial by battle the world has ever
seen; q war which not only saved the Union.
but placed our country in the forefront OF na-
tions.
When the National flag was fred upon ut
Sumter, the seeding States were destitute or
nearly 80, of military officers of skill apd ex-
pcricnce, while the United States had more
thun twclve hundred.
AS for fighting, the American volunteer rorth
and south, fights as bravcly in his first tsttle
as in his last, as Shiloh and Donnelson prove
but to make his courage and intelligence
thoroughly effective there must be organiz-
alton, discipline and drill; and these requisites
the south did not possess, until n mistake of
President Lincoln furnished the Confederates
with nearly two hundred officers OF skill and
experience, whose designations he accepted
after Sumter had been fired upon, and when
1t was known they were about to take up arms
against the Union.
published by order of the Secretary Of War, in
September 1861, which gives the names and
dates of the designations OF southern officers
which were accepted by Mr.. Lincoln after our
flag had been fired upon ut Sumter. And in the
list VIC find the names OF Robert e. Lee, Albert
Sidney johnson and Joseph L. Johnston the
equals OF Grant and Mcclellan and Sheridan
And also the names Of James r. Longstreet,
one of the thunderbolts Of southern war; of
Picket, whose name was made immortal with
that Of Hancock the hero Of Gettysburg, in
that decisive battle Of the war; and also the
names OF Kirby Smith, Beauregard, Van Dorm,
Pcmberton, Stephen d. Lee, Magruder, Bee
the Hills, the Garnetts, and Of ]. Il. B. Stuart
OF the Black Horse cavalry, whose fame will live
as long us history is written and read; and these
men wero tho equals Of our Hooker, who won o
victory when fighting above the clouds; OF Blu
ell, the victor OF Shiloh; OF Mcpherson, the Des-
saix OF our western armies ;of Thomas, the model
soldier and patriot; OF Sherman, the hero OF the
march to tho sea; of Mcdowell, one of the tru-
est and ablest OF oil our Generals, and Slocum
and Logan, McClarnand, Shields, Stecdman
and Blair and scores OF others, their equals
who often led our armies to battle. Had 1t not
been for the services in the cause OF the South
OF those two hundred officers OF the army Of the
United States, transformed by the act of Presi-
dent Lincoln into Confederate Officers, the Con-
federacy would have been crushed like an egg
shell in the first shock OF the contcnding ar
mics. At Bull Run, the first great battle of tho
civil war, the Confederates were mnrshaled and
led by Joe Johnston. and Bea,,regard, and
Stonewall jackson, and Bee, and Kirby Smith,
and othcrsswhO had held commissions In the
regular army OF the United States.
Had those officers been placed under arrest
when their designations were rendered, the ar
rests would have been respected. And even
had they been broken and had the arrested Of
hcers gone over to the enemies the act would
have been desertion, punishable according to
the laws of war. But the arrests would not
have been broken, and the Confederacy would
have been left without officers capable of or
ganizing and commanding armies.
The mistake Of President Lincoln was with
out o parallel In history, but for all that Mr..
Lincoln was q great man; no one doubts that
his intention was patriotic.
At Appomutox, in spirit OF splendid gener-
osity, Grant would not tuke the sword OF Lee
which would have been as proud q trophy Us all
the flags taken on the battlc-ields. But Grant
did not stop there. He never did any thing by
halves. He gave back to the Confederates, af-
ter tho surrender OF Lee, their artillery, cavalry
and quartermastcr horses. They were our
property by the laws OF war, but Grant gave
them back to the men who an hour before stood
arrayed in arms against the sovereignty OF the
Renublic. and to this hour no man has uttered